Malaysian wins; Galedo big threat in Baguio lap

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – Malaysian Harrif Salleh of Terranganu Cycling Team won lap honors in yesterday’s Stage Three from Iba, Zambales as holder Mark Galedo of 7-Eleven Roadbike Philippines and the other frontrunners took a rather safe approach as they brace for the final push in the 2015 Le Tour de Filipinas.

Salleh, a sprinter, towed a heavy 58-man group that included Galedo and yellow jersey owner Eric Sheppard of Attaque Team Gusto, in crossing the finish line near the provincial capitol after the 150-km ride on mostly flat roads.

The 27-year-old Malaysian registered a winning time of 3:38:35, the same clocking as stage second-placer Mehdi Sohrabi of Tabriz Petrochemical Team, third placer Tino Thomel of Santic Racing Team, and the Top 2 in the individual general classification race, Sheppard and Galedo, who were 42nd and 30th for the day, respectively.

Salleh, though, hardly improved his standing in the overall chase, positioned at 61st. He stood 18:32 off Sheppard, who maintained his hold of No. 1 with 10:46:06 heading to today’s last stage – a 101-km grind to Bagiuo via Kennon Road, where climbers like Galedo, just three seconds off Sheppard, are expected to shine.

“I just want to take advantage of the sprints (in Stage 3) to get my first win this year, because I’m a sprinter and (the next stage’s) mountain climb is very hard for me,” said Salleh.

Galedo put himself into a position to strike in the mountainous roads to the City of Pines and repeat as champ in the UCI Asia Tour race presented by Air21 and co-presented by the MVP Sports Foundation and Smart.

“Abang-abang lang, sundan lang din yung threat doon sa ahon, mostly Iranians yan. Basta sunod-sunod lang tayo, pag may chance umatake, aatake (I’ll just stay close to the pacesetters while looking out for the threats in the climbs, particularly the Iranians whom we expect to make their move in Stage Four. If there’s a chance to attack, we’ll do so),” said Galedo.

The 29-year-old Galedo was with Salleh in the large peloton that caught up with the two-man breakaway in the last 5K of the stage in the winding roads of Sual town. Jang Sun Jae of Santic Racing Team and Hiroshi Tsubaki of Bridgestone Anchor Racing Team (BGT) took the pace for about 100 kilometers but faded in the rush of the pursuit group, which sustained a blistering pace of 60 km/ph from Sual onwards to blitz past them.

Jerry Aquino of the Philippine national team finished sixth in the stage with the same clocking as Salleh, joining Sho Hatsuyama of BGT (fourth), Jang Chanjae of ATG (fifth), Angel Vasquez of 7-Eleven (seventh), Vadim Galayev of Kazakhstan national team (eighth), Takero Terasaki of BGT (ninth) and James Glasspool of Team Novo Nordisk (10th) in the Top 10.

Like Sheppard and Galedo, Thomas Lebas of BGT maintained his No. 3 position in the general classification at four seconds behind while Oleg Zemiakov of Kazakhstan national squad stayed at fourth (10 seconds behind) and Stage Two winner Scott Ambrose of TNN continued to be at fifth (1:35 adrift). Phl mainstay Ronald Oranza stood at sixth overall, 1:57 behind the pace while 7-Eleven’s Felipe Marcelo (10th, 2:16 behind) and Baler Ravina (11th, 2:17 behind) remained close by through three laps.

The 2015 Le Tour is organized by Ube Media Inc. headed by Donna Lina-Flavier and is also supported by Victory Liner, San Mig Zero, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Phils. and Canon with Isuzu, MAN Truck and Bus, Viking Rent-A-Car and NLEX.